St. John's Bakery - Neals Yard

The queue in the courtyard is usually there for the doughnuts. St. John's Bakery keeps a small, bright retail counter in London's Neal's Yard, with the day's breads and pastries stacked in view and not much else to it.

Sourdough on one side, doughnuts on the other

The bread is the foundation: St. JOHN sourdough, sold by the loaf, the same style of bread the kitchen built its name on. Alongside it sits the older English end of the repertoire, led by the Eccles cake, all flaky pastry and dried fruit.

The doughnuts are the other reason people come. The custard doughnut is the one the counter is best known for, with a raspberry version beside it.

A counter, not a cafe

The shop is small and the service is quick: choose from the display, pay, carry it out into the courtyard. There is very little room to settle in, so treat it as a stop on the way somewhere rather than a place to sit out the afternoon.

Opinionated About Dining ranked the bakery number 132 on its Cheap Eats in Europe list for 2026, which is a fair description of the trade it does: small money, serious baking, an intimate neighbourhood room in a courtyard most people are already walking through.

What to order

Take a custard doughnut first. If you are buying for more than one person, add a raspberry doughnut and an Eccles cake, and a loaf of sourdough if you are heading home rather than onward.